10wo doesn't nap... Do I need to do anything about it?

[PurplePidjin]

Ds1 (as if you hadn't guessed ) battles sleep during the day. He sleeps well at night thank fuck dropping off between 8 and 9 and sleeping till 3/4 most nights, then another 2 hours or so after an hours feed (bf on demand)

However, he hates to nap. He's awake all day, then gets grumpy from overtiredness. Eventually, he'll drop off on me but wake if i try to transfer, either to crib or someone else. He sleeps ok if i walk a mile in the sling, but that's really not practical twice a day!

I have tried:
Feed to sleep (works like a charm at night, sporadic at best during the day)
White noise
Driving
Singing
Rocking
Walking indoors (see above re: sling)
Calm classical music
Various jiggling motions
Leaving him to it (absolutely hysterical after 3 minutes. I don't believe there's any benefit to methods like this before 6 months but we were desperate)

Bedtime routine is well established - babygrow and sleeping bag on, feed in bed, cuddle to sleep, transfer to crib. This works well for us as a family. But he needs to sleep during the day - if he doesn't he grumbles and cries and gets colicky and i need to scream

Is this something i should tackle now or will he grow out of it when he's ready?

We had exactly this at the same age. The things that worked for us were:
Working out a daytime sleep pattern (roughly based on Gina's timings)
Getting him used to sleeping at those times by walking/taking him out in the car
Total blackout blinds in his room
Mini version of bedtime routine during the day, so nappy change, grobag on, lights off, quick feed, put him down.
Took a couple of weeks of tweaking but so worth persevering!

He's in with us, so I'll switch the curtains round to get darkness.

I need some flexibility, sometimes i need to be out all day but then he can nap in the sling/pushchair. Will that be possible?

Thank you

Yes definitely, We've had a few blips along the way though...! he will now only sleep in the pushchair if I really really rock him, and I have to drape a dark bit of material over the car seat in the car now as he can't drop off if he can see out the window...! (I remove it as soon as he's gone to sleep so he doesn't get overheated!) when we started naps at home I would always feed to sleep for them, and then when I started weaning I stopped doing that, and he falls asleep by himself. He does fight them sometimes, and usually makes a bit of a fuss when I put him down (bit of shouting then some grizzling) but very rarely cries. To be honest he only really makes a fuss if I get the timings wrong, if he's under tired he blows raspberries to himself for half an hour till he drops off, if overtired he really really cries :-(

Well, after 1 1/2 hours of gentle persuasion in the nice calm bedroom, i gave up and went back downstairs. Let him cry while i made acuppa, and he zonked on me for 3 hours. Nappy change, feed, sleep again!

I woke him at 7:30, gave him a deep bath to swim in (took him swimming yesterday and he loved it, then slept really well!) and he's now back on the boob.

Thank you, i really was ready to put him (safely) in his crib and shut the door

He'll get there, he's very young still. I used to push the buggy for hours, sobbing as I was so unbelievably exhausted. The first time he had a nap for longer than 10 minutes at home I was trapped in my bedroom for the whole time as I was too scared to walk past his room in case it woke him up!

Hi PurplePidgin
I had exactly the same problem as you have with your little one. We tried all the same things included in your list, but to no avail! I thought I was doing something wrong and being a bad mum :(
Then I came across a piece of advice in a blog (can't remember where). Basically, babies up to the age of 6 months have a 90 minute sleep cycle. So, from the moment they wake from a sleep, count 90 mins and then they are ready to go back to bed. Even if LO has just woken from a 4 hour sleep or a 10 minute sleep you still count 90 mins. The info is from this book - The 90 minute baby sleep programme by Polly Moore, but to be honest that is the main message in the book, so save yourself the £5. Although I could send it to you if you want for free.
I was sceptical at first as my LO was terrible going to sleep, she would sleep 40mins max and then be miserable and overtired. I tried the 90 mins and was amazed that it actaully worked, she now is a much happier, smiley and contended little girl and sometimes sleepf for 2/3 hours in one go during the day! Just give it a try and you will be surprised. I do hope it works for you and good luck :)

Thanks, Sarah, I'll try that tomorrow